Horse Riding Attire

January 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment

It’s feasible you have toyed with the idea of riding barefoot, wind curling thru your toes. Maybe you have dreamed about riding barefoot without a saddle, native American style. It probably does seem to be an enchanting dream, but you’ll have to think twice. Barefoot riding can be dangerous.

Irrespective of the discipline you are into, and even if you are into simple pleasure riding, you need to consider appropriate foot wear. I would go so far as to suggest you wear boots even if grooming or feeding your horse. A horse’s hooves can come down with a lot weight, and they are going to do your foot no good at all if it isn’t competently protected.

Most people find the idea of donning riding helmets a drag, but helmets are very simply life savers. They’re not worn for style. A cowboy hat is no replacement for a helmet. You need to consider vented helmets for optimum protection value.

If you are taking part in a show that stipulates hunt seat clothes, you must don a white shirt, or a pinstriped one. You should also sport a hunting cap, breeches, wool riding jacket and dress riding boots. It’s also routine to wear riding gloves. While you can wear jackets and breeches of any dark colour, you must do some research on what colours are in fashion before buying them.

You have to be formally attired for dressage. That suggests a white shirt and a stock tie fastened with a pin, black jacket, tan or white breeches and dress boots. You also need a hunt cap or a helmet. If you’re in saddle seat events, you need dark jodhpurs, jodhpur boots, riding shirt of white and dark jacket.

The garments sported by Western riders has lots to do with their sex. Men like Western shirts, leather belts with buckles of silver, cowboy hats of felt, riding boots, jeans and chaps. Women are usually seen in Western tux shirt, jacket or vest, felt hats, riding boots, and inevitably, jeans with chaps. In high-intensity events, belt buckles and ties are dispensed with.

Children compulsorily must wear regulation safety riding helmets, whether they are pleasure riding or competing. They should not be sporting cowboy hats.

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The History Of Music In Dressage

December 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Though dressage traces its beginnings back to ancient Greece, top class high school dressage and riding to the accompaniment of music essentially developed from the seemingly near mystical horsemanship displays in France and Italy between the 16th and the19th centuries. In the later part of the 16th century, the north of Italy specialized in Renaissance art based on equestrian motifs. It is to these areas the beginnings of what is now the dressage musical freestyle can be traced. Dressage was forever tied to music there, though not in the renowned music college of Pignatelli in Naples. This essentially occurred in the schools belonging to Fredirico Grisone and Fiaschi. Both these men penned treatises on dressage set to music. Pignatelli was actually the pioneer in training horses in pillars, so creating a whole new cultured in horse training, but it’s the music in dressage that has endured and increased the global presence of competitive dressage.

In sixteenth century Italy, music was essentially brought into equestrian activities to enable easy teaching of tempo and rhythm to horse riders. Grisone believed strongly in using the voice to maintain a horse’s tempo. His dissertation of 1550 was shortly available in German and French too. Fiaschi incorporated short musical stretches that matched equine movements and gaits in his treaty of 1556, so setting a musical vocabulary down on paper for the very first time. Fiaschi egged his riders to master music so well they could sing while riding their horses and ride as if they were doing so to the backdrop of rare and exciting music.

As long ago as 1548, costumed chevaliers in Lyons, France, astounded their audiences with fascinating displays of jumping horses and horses jumping and turning. Small bells were attached to these horses to supply a lovely sound in accompaniment to their prancing. It was said that so sweet was the sound, so pleasant the resonance that folks were no less thrilled than by the sparkling of the finest of gems; they were left wondering whether what they were seeing and hearing was real or all part of a dream. LaBroue wrote in 1602 La Broue that a rider without any musical sensibility was one who could never tune himself good enough to the horse’s tempo and beat to do an excellent job of riding.

In1612, Plunivel, who had revived the soft xenophon equine training methods, came up with an equine ballet honouring Louis XIII’s engagement to Austria’s Anne. The ballet was an impressive success. Though the ballet lasted just a couple of minutes in an otherwise long day dedicated to jousting, lavish parades and carrousels that went well into the late evening, Pluvinel’s ballet outshone everything else when his riders in blinding costumes cavorted around in a display that had the crowd mesmerised.

Though music’s association with dressage goes back a great distance, it was only recently that it made an appearance again in competitive events. Starting with the early twentieth century, dressage events drew to a significant extent on its military origins, instead of on its entertainment worth. The reintroduction of musical freestyle during the 1980s once again had dressage horses dance to perfection in the strongly competitive arena. All at once, an event which was considered as rather uninteresting became a sure crowd pleaser, and the popularity has stayed. Musical freestyle was added to the Olympic format for the 1st time in the 1996 Atlanta Games.

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English Horse-Riding Style Verse Western

December 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The name ‘English’ does suggest origin in a specific country, but the English horse riding style is one of the 2 most popular universal riding styles, along with the Western riding style. English style riding can be seen in lots of variations, but there are certain elementary factors that are shared by all variations, and these factors clearly distinguish this form of riding from Western or other riding styles.

Potentially the 1st and most clearly obvious distinguishing factor is the saddle. Whatever purpose the horse is being used for, if it is being ridden in the English style, it’ll have an English saddle. This saddle is rather flat; it doesn’t have the deepness of seat that typicalizes the Western saddle. It also lacks a saddle horn. The English saddle is meant to allow full freedom of movement to the pony, no matter the discipline it is engaged with. You can see this for yourself if you should watch a horse engaged in English riding: it’ll go thru varied activities like classic dressage and racing, activities that demand a lot of freedom of movement.

English riding comprises assorted sub-styles, all identified by the need for both hands to be on the reins. This technique permits better control over the pony and switches the focus from horse to rider. Riders using the English style will rise and sit during trots in tune with the horse’s rhythm, while riders using the Western style will stay put in their saddles.

Lots of folks consider English riding the ideal setting to showcase a horse’s inherent power and grace, and this can be easily seen in all of the events using the style. Just consider dressage, which is a way of coaching and competing. Riders always use an English saddle at dressage, which is a riding form that gives maximum exposure to the horse’s riding potential. Dressage is designed to showcase equine precision in response to rider cues. The English riding style is also employed in show jumping events, where horses are timed as they progress over a series of obstacles. Polo is another sport that uses English riding; this sport is extraordinarily demanding on precision timing and coordinated movements from both rider and pony.

The discussion about which horse breeds are far more suited for which riding style does not appear to have any end, I actually feel it is a pointless discussion. I’m absolutely sure any riding style is suitable for all horse breeds. It all depends on the coaching. Most professionals prefer that horses trained for particular disciplines also be trained using only one riding style, and I am in compete agreement with this approach because it helps better focus. A pony schooled in a specific style will be more responsive to cues concerned in that style; contradictory styles would achieve nothing aside from confusing the horse.

If you are looking for to settle on what style would work for you, try both out and see which feels more comfortable. Think about your intended disciplines, and do a little research to see what would be better for your particular purposes.

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Understanding The Various Horse-Riding Wear

December 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

You get helmets and riding hats in a selection of designs, and you should select the one that is most appropriate for your discipline. It’s clear that riding headgear is selected based on the rider’s own fit, comfort and personal choice. Whatever you select, buy only new stuff and make sure it conforms to BSEN1384, EN1384 or PAS015 safety standards.

The degree of enjoyment of your ride can be affected by your leg wear. Leg wear that either pinches or rubs making chaffing sores is exceedingly uncomfortable. While it would be rather stupid to claim that the right clothes can improve riding talents, it wouldn’t be farfetched to say that inappropriate clothing can definitely hinder a rider’s progress.

Breeches and jodhpurs are a definite option for awfully active riders they’re elastic and made from material that breaths helping to keep riders from overheating.

Riding boots are crucial for a couple of reasons. They come with soles and heels that are constructed to maximise rider safety (a foot caught in a stirrup can have tragic results). The better class of boots are made from tough, lasting material with finely designed treads and heels that stop the rider’s feet from slipping thru the stirrups. Jodhpur boots cover the ankles, while long riding boots go all the way up to slightly below the rider’s knees. It is vital that your boots sit rather comfortably on your legs, as you extensively use your feet and legs for exerting control over the pony when riding.

Riding jackets are available in a big spread of configurations and dimensions. They also come in several types, which is meant for one specific use. Riders have jackets for wet and cold conditions, for warmer and breezier conditions, for showing and for competing. Whatever style of jacket you wear, it should be absolutely comfortable and appropriate for the use. It should give you masses of freedom of movement thru the arms and across the shoulders. It should not have parts flapping around, nor should it have parts or attachments that could snag anywhere.

Chaps are a very popular item of horse riding attire. They are basically a rather brilliant invention, because they fit well over Jodhpur boots and yard boots. They give the rider the sort of additional comfort and grip that long boots do, without giving them the stress that the awfully costly long boots can give because of worries over damage or too much wear and tear. Chaps can be gotten in 2 designs: the full length type that goes from ankle to hip or the half length type that goes from ankle to knee. In chilly weather conditions, chaps can be used for extra warmth. They are made of any of several materials.

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Equine Studies At Linn-Benton Community College

December 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Found in Albany, Oregon, Linn-Benton Community College is a public community institution. This varsity offers 2 year associate degrees incorporating several subjects, including these two: Associate of Science (Animal Science) and Associate of Science (Equine Science).

The college has a proud tradition of providing students with practical instruction while guiding them to accomplishment in their learning targets. The college’s curriculum is so designed that it becomes the primary step in the direction of higher education at major varsities. Students in the Associate of Science (Animal Science) degree stream will:

– Learn how to successfully master abilities in animal husbandry concepts and practices relevant to most livestock species;

– Apply the skills they have acquired to get work in the animal farming field;

– Be well placed to use appropriate methodologies required for successful cashflow control and organized record keeping;

– Be able to efficiently perform research on nutrition, health and reproduction issues as well as management and marketing;

– Master industry-specify vocabulary and terminology such that they can be useful communicators.

Scholars who take up the Associate of Science (Equine Science) stream can:

– Apply the equine husbandry abilities they acquire as transfer scholars;

– Research nourishment, health and reproduction, as well as marketing, basic management and coaching;

– Communicate fluently with other equine professionals using industry-specific vocabulary and terminology;

– Use technology and computation capabilities to control finances and records successfully.

The courses this university offers enables scholars to pursue further educational courses and get their bachelors’ degrees at other four-year establishments. Students who opt for either of the equine science programs need a robust life science and mathematics background. They must complete courses in biology, maths and chemistry, as also in other subjects that are based primarily on baccalaureate cores. Scholars can also avail of courses that provide hands on experience in animal science as well as horse related fields.

Classes are conducted in superbly modern classrooms. Laboratories have state-of-the-art equipment that misses nothing essential for scholars. Great stress is placed on practical experience and activity. Students may be required to take advantage of assistance from local livestock producers to get them through their field laboratory work.

Scholars are given the chance to partake of a cooperative programme targeted on work experience. Scholars of the Animal Science courses are awarded college credit up to a maximum of 14 hours when they are going thru hands on training organized by the College’s Co-operative Work Experience Program. Students desiring to take up this option are required to approach their major instructors and the Programme coordinator.

The Varsity also has an Associate (Applied Science) Horse Management Degree for students ready to take up career work. This program is a key component of the college’s equine dept. This programme is conducted in a up-to-the-minute facility; it stresses breeding management as well as training of horses. Scholars who go thru Linn-Benton Community College’s degrees related to animal science or to equines will have availed of education of the best quality around, what their future intentions: seek employment immediately after two years or go in for further studies at 4 year establishments.

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Antares Saddles: World Class Saddle Making

December 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Founded by 5 pro riders in March 2000, Antares produces the most intricate and well-crafted horse saddles around. What started off as a common ambition to make customised saddles is now a world-class business serving riders across the globe.

Antares’ aim is to make the finest saddles fit for each rider. Having been established by veteran riders, the company understands a rider’s need to have the ideal saddle for comfort and function.

Customization and personalization is what makes Antares unique. Until now, many riders worldwide believe that nothing can measure up to the quality of saddles Antares crafts.

Now serving Europe, North America and some countries in Asia, the business has expanded to making pony bridles and harnesses also. Considering the growth, the company continues to make characteristic saddles as perfectly gorgeous and functional as ever.

One thing that distinguishes Antares from others is its individualized service for each rider. When you come in and describe what type of saddle you need, a professional will give you options that are within your budget. You may either purchase a customised saddle from them or bring an old one for them to work on. Whatever decision you make, you’re sure to have a very good saddle at the end.

What sets Antares saddles apart from others is that each is assembled with the softest leather around. Such softness is imperative to the rider and horse’s comfort. Not only are Antares saddles soft, they are also made firm and steadier than any other saddle. This has a lot to do with the craftsmen and the consultation team of pros behind it. Each saddle is created with experienced hands so that you can be completely certain of perfect quality.

Whether you’re riding simply for recreation or participate in races or shows, different Antares saddles are available for you. Whichever saddle you choose, you’re assured a selection of sizes, seat depths and twists.

An Antares Close Contact Saddle keeps your legs in close as you ride. You won’t need to be concerned about your legs moving all around the place when your horse begins to gallop. Their close contact saddle is one that keeps you comfortable and well-positioned.

The Fizik Antares Saddle is excellent for extended trips. It’s made with a bigger seat and is stuffed with thicker foam, providing great comfort and more room for the rider. It’s also very firm and is awfully light, which makes it better for your horse.

These are only a couple of the most popular types of Antares saddles among riders. Once you learn more about the company, you’ll find that there are so many options to make a choice from, each with its distinctive characteristic.

Though prices of Antares saddles aren’t the least expensive ones around, your investment will certainly not be in vain. With proper care and upkeep, your saddle can last for decades.

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How To Mount Your Pony

December 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you are wondering about the safest techniques of mounting your pony, you have two choices, you can risk a lot of issues with your pony and to yourself by imitating Zorro or the Lone Ranger, or you can go the safe, normal way.

Hopefully, you have settled on the second plan of action. You’ll find this article of lots of help. Correct mounting of a horse is a critical part of horse riding. Even though you do want to try out some tricky mounting methods at a later stage, you can lay the right foundation with control over the traditional method.

Mounting a pony is not as simple as it looks, particularly if you have a skittish pony. You’ll find this out the difficult way when you try and mount the horse for the 1st time. Mounting is much more difficult than you’ll believe. You do it best when you have established a robust bond of trust and respect with your horse.

Mounting your pony

– Test the girth before you try and mount. It should be tight and snug. You should be able to slide in 2 fingers between the horse’s side and the girth. You don’t wish to cause severe distress to your pony by trying to cut him in 2 with the girth. At the least, girths that are too tight could cause some painful skin abrasions. Try and maintain balance and equilibrium when you mount. You can displace the saddle, especially if it’s been fitted on a bit loose, so be very appreciative of your movements.

– Make it a habit to get on from the horse’s left side, This is standard practice. At the outset, you might consider using a mounting stool so that you can get used to the shifts in balance that happens when you mount a horse.

– Take a grip on the reins and a little bit of your horse’s mane with your left hand.

– Your horse may move toward you to help you take control while mounting.

– With your right hand, grab the saddle at the rear. NEVER grab the horn. Grabbing the horn exerts an unpleasant pull on the horse. You can try for more leverage on the cantle by shifting you hand further toward the back of the saddle. Remember this, though: you’ll need to move your hand out of the way of your right leg as you mount and your leg swings over.

– You can now step into the stirrup with your left foot. If necessary, bounce on your right foot a couple of times to gain enough momentum to swing all the way up, over and across. Stick close to your horse to help you maintain your balance.

– Use the momentum you generate to swing your right leg over. Raise your leg sufficiently high to clear the horse and the saddle on it. When you succeed in learning the knack of how to do this, you’ll find yourself in the saddle with minimum discomfort and maximum comfort. Make no abrupt moves, and don’t impact hard against the pony to prevent him getting startled. Learn how to be graceful.

– When you’ve swung over, get your right foot into the stirrup immediately. Try to not poke your toes into your horse’s side as you try to get it into the stirrup.

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Horse Coaching Requires Persistent Patience

December 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you’ve been riding horses for a bit, you will probably have experienced the actual joy of riding a pony that’s remarkably well trained. But did you ever give thought to the periods of time and energy, and most likely money, spent on making that pony that way?

You can’t train a pony in a day, a week or a month, I might go so far as to say a year, because as far as I am concerned coaching is a permanent process. It takes amazing patience and perseverance.

When coaching a horse, it is basically a battle between your patience and the horse’s resistance. If you show implacable patience, you’ll come out the winner. If you lose patience and snap on any specific day, you lost that day’s battle. Lose too many battles and you will land up losing the war. Handling horses is like handling youngsters. Fury and disappointment only inflame bad eventualities. Anger has no role to play in training or handling a pony, and demonstration of outrage is an absolute no-no. Loud remonstrations, cursing and physical action are among the 7 cardinal sins.

If you cannot accept the unshakable fact that there is no alternative choice to patience, you have no business coaching horses. My apologies, but that’s the blunt truth. Each shortcut you take today is a failure waiting to happen along the way some other day. Like most children, horses learn only through constant repetition. And like with children, some horses require a load more repetition than other horses.

If you come across any books or videos or audios that promise to train you how to teach your pony everything it needs to be taught in 60 minutes, a day or a month, you want to burn that baloney. The single thing you achieve with super fast teaching strategies is disaster. Your pony is not designed by nature to be a genius, so don’t try to make him one. When he learns at his own pace, he learns for life. When he learns at a turbocharged pace, he learns for an hour, or perhaps a day. It’s irrelevant that you need days to teach him something that to you seems to be the easiest thing in the world to learn. You aren’t a pony, and your pony is not you. Start every day with your pony brightly, and ensure it ends brightly. If you should happen to feel anger building up over something, take the day off and do something, anything , that has nothing to do with horses. Tomorrow will always dawn fresh.

As vital as patience is persistence is. Your pony isn’t going to learn constantly if you are not teaching him consistently.

For all the undeniable fact that it could take tons of time, horse coaching is not a difficult task. The largest challenge is finding the patience needed. Anyone who tells you that horse coaching is an arduous task is either too bone-idle to try it himself, or has screwed up by employing short-cuts. Malicious manipulation of whips, bits and spurs will only bring about a defiant horse, and the more the punishment, the more the defiance.

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The Ideal Hunter Show Riders Position

December 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Riders in hunting events should have a entire range of positions in their repertory to be sure they get their horses successfully and safely through the course. A hunter rider needs a highly advanced sense of balance, fluidity and rhythm. He should make the ride seem to be totally effortless, and he should make it seem like he had no role to play in it at all, except sit in the saddle for decoration purposes. The rider blows it if he keeps shifting from 2 to 3 point when a jump’s comes up. He should be able to simply nurse his horse thru turns, however tight, and over slippery ground.

What the rider needs is control over the half seat.

The 3 seating positions are described below.

1. 3 point/full seat: While seated so, the rider’s seat and inner thighs make up the 3 point. The upper part of the body should be erect, with an imaginary straight line thru the ears, the shoulders, the hips and the heels. This seat is used for flat work.

2) 2 point/jumping seat: The rider sits with hips lifted, pushing back a bit toward the saddle’s cantle. The rider’s seat isn’t in touch with his saddle. He’s connected to the saddle through his inner thighs, and this makes for the 2 points. The rider’s weight is centred over his saddle such that he’s not supporting his upper body with his hands or losing his leg support. This seat is meant for jumping.

3) Half seat: The rider closes his hip angle a touch and raises his seat slightly, though not to the extent he loses full contact with his saddle. He’s at the half way point between a 3 point position and a 2 point one.

Plenty of riders have difficulty with staying in a half seat. They become unstable and tend to balance themselves on the hands so that they can support the upper body weight. This is definitely not recommended, since it does nothing for building up a leg-based support structure.

What have you got to do to line up this structure of support while staying balanced?

When supporting yourself with your hands, you are almost certainly pinching at the knees, which implies you are imitating a wobble totter. You need to try the exercise described below if you can get a buddy (ideally your coach) to lunge or lead your pony while you are in the saddle.

Get your pony to stand still (when necessary use your mate or coach to help), drop the reins, lift your hip a little and push it towards your saddle’s cantle to take up a half seat or forward position. By doing this, you’ll find your hip angle closing and the shoulders lowering. Raise your arms until they are level with the shoulders and maintain this position for a count of approximately 10. You can stay balanced only if you keep your leg under and softly wrapped around your horse’s barrel. Make sure your knee isn’t pinching, because if it does your lower leg will get pushed off the barrel, making you pivot. Make sure you do not draw up your heels, as that would ‘goose’ your pony into going forward. The whole of your leg must stay supple and soft as it softly hugs your horse’s barrel. Let your knees open and the toes turn out naturally to point away at about 45 degrees from the horse’s barrel. Your ankles, knees and hips must be relaxed and soft because they function as shock absorbers. Try and release all strain in your legs, right from the joint with the torso to the toes.

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Devon – Equestrian Activity Paradise

December 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Devon has a lot to offer the pony lover.

You can make a start at the two terrific racecourses Devon boasts of. One of those, the racecourse atop Haldon Hill, offers fantastic views of Dartmoor and Exeter. This racecourse does not confine itself to just races; it offers some amazing top quality steeplechase events which make for the ideal family day out. This racecourse has seen some of the most famous horses in action, like Best Male and Desert Orchid.

The Newton Abbot racecourse is also a very famous vacation race venue.

Folk more keen on shows and other equestrian events will prefer to go to Bicton Arena, in the Budleigh Salterton area. This venue has a substantial menu of events to relish. It is very well set up, with stables, grass arenas, a ring for all-weather practice and a cross-country course, as well as a number of other facilities of the very highest standards. The Bicton Arena hosts horse trials and show jumping events, and some single day events.

Devon’s Donkey Refuge and Devon Horse and Pony Sanctuary are venues of interest to everybody, not just horse fanatics. The Donkey Refuge, which is found in East Devon’s gentle hills, is a haven for lots of unwanted and dumped donkeys. The animals receive much care and affection here. Manaton’s Horse and Pony Sanctuary, near Dartmoor, is equally superb.

You may be aware of the fact that Dartmoor National Park is home to the native Dartmoor Hill Pony breed. Life on the moors has made these ponies very hardy. Though they graze and roam freely, they aren’t really wild ponies, they belong to farmers in the vicinity. These ponies have a history in Dartmoor that is claimed to go back about 3,500 years, they find mention in documents going back to AD 1012.

The Dartmoor ponies were utilised for transporting granite and stone in the nineteenth century. They lead far easier lives these days though they have problems with issues like over grazing. There are far more than 3000 ponies in Dartmoor.

Dartmoor ponies have been ridden in show jumping events and cross country events. They have been used as working hunter ponies and for single day events. They have also been utilized for driving carriages, and potentially their favourite use has been in the role of family pony, a role of historic popularity.

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